1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to separating various recyclable materials from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
2. Description of the Related Art
It may be desirable to separate certain types of recyclable Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) from other types of recyclable or non-recyclable waste. For example, recyclable MSW materials may include plastic film, paper, Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC); and plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass containers. These recyclable materials may need to be separated from other types of waste that may include wood, concrete, rocks, organic waste, etc. However, the recyclable MSW paper, cardboard, and containers may have sizes and/or shapes similar to other types of MSW waste. Thus, existing disc screen systems that separate materials solely according to size may not effectively separate certain MSW recyclable materials.
It also may be desirable to separate different plastic films, such as garbage bags, from fiber materials, such as paper and cardboard. However, all of these MSW materials are relatively flat, thin, and flexible. These different plastic and fiber materials are all relatively thin and light weight and have a wide variety of different widths and lengths. Even standard 8½×11 inch pieces of paper can be folded or crinkled by the time they arrive at a recycling center. Thus, it is relatively impossible to sort these different plastic and fiber materials according to size or weight.